“The fact is, even with the rush to e-tailing and social and digital integration, the best e-commerce pure plays understand the need to offer live shopping experiences to copy the poster child for retail-destination brands — Apple and its mind-blowing $7,500-per-square-foot juggernaut of a retail experience.

“Amazon will likely open its first store in Seattle and highlight high-margin items, offer Kindle support and enable same-day delivery when you swipe your Amazon Prime app. EBay had a pop-up store in New York and London’s West End last December, and other top 10 web pure-plays could soon morph into straight-up retailers. A Google Store would bring the magic of its peerless headquarters to life.

“Or how about Twitter Café — a true third-place news hub with coffee and a (sorry) tweet roll? Or the YouTube store, 4,000 square feet dedicated to helping users set up their personalized pages and manage their content.”

I talked to a self-described tech nerd on Friday who was frustrated with herself for pre-ordering her new iPad for home delivery instead of going to a store to pick it up.

App designer Fiona Schlachter blocked out most of Friday to be home to receive the package. It didn’t arrive by the promised time of 3 p.m. She left for an appointment. While she was out, Fed Ex left a note saying she had until 9 p.m. to pick it up at a designated location.

“We got there at 8:58 p.m. and got it. It felt like 1999,” Schlachter said in an email to let me know how it turned out. “At least the line moves quickly and there is a sense of excitement at the store.:).”

Whoa. Stores are better now?

For years, I’ve been conditioned by online shopping snobs to understand that they will never prefer a brick-and-mortar experience to the oh-so-smarter online shopping experience.

(Personally, I really need both depending on what I’m buying and if it’s Christmas.)

And besides, it’s a huge subset of online shopping diehards who are responsible for making Apple stores the runaway leader in the sales-per-square-foot race.

Walmart.com opened a couple of small stores in California malls last Christmas. Amazon.com has a test under way with Dallas-based 7-Eleven, also in Seattle, to make receiving a package more convenient for people who can’t be home or don’t trust their doorstep.

In some merchandise categories like electronics and TVs, shoppers check out the brick-and-mortar store first before placing an order online. Last December, Amazon really called attention to the practice by asking shoppers to comparison shop for them by using its Price Check App to receive a $5 discount.

So maybe we aren’t as averse to stores as some people think?

It just depends. And I really like Courtney’s idea for a Twitter Cafe. I’ve got some great recipes for tweet rolls.